Afraid
by CheerUpSleepyJean
Summary: Explanations, details, emotions—past, present, future: a series of glimpses into Wybie's life. (I don't own "Coraline.")
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I was watching the movie Coraline and having a good time, but then I took a closer look at Wybie's design. Naturally, the thought crossed my mind that his bent back and differently-sized eyes were simply little, meaningless details included to make him look kookier. **  
**BUT WHAT IF THEY WEREN'T? **  
**And thus, a fic was born. **

Chapter 1: Alone  
Nancy Lovat crept up the stairs, her knees creaking almost as loudly as the floorboards. From the room at the end of the hallway, she could faintly hear sobbing. Hesitantly, the middle-aged woman pushed open the door and peeped inside.  
She could see her 7-year-old grandson spread out on his bed, trying to muffle his tears with a pillow.  
"Wyborn?"  
He tilted his dark, curly head to look at her, his mismatched olive-green eyes ringed with red.  
"W-why didn't you tell me?"  
Nancy couldn't meet his eyes.  
"The other kids at school today...they said I was ugly. They laughed at me." He sniffed again.  
"Why didn't you tell me I'm a freak?"  
She wrapped an arm around his bent, shaking shoulders.  
"You aren't a freak."  
Mrs. Lovat knew that the little boy derived no comfort from her words; the damage had been done.  
"Look at me, Wyborn."  
He raised his head, and she cupped his cheeks in her warm, rough hands.  
"You were just made a bit...differently."  
"In a bad way."  
"That's not what I meant-"  
"D-don't lie to me, Grandma!" Wybie turned away from his grandmother, tears filling his eyes.  
"I wish I could just disappear."  
Mrs. Lovat froze.  
Her mind snatched her out of Wybie's dark bedroom with toy cars littered on the floor, and dropped her in the Pink Palace of 1951:  
_"I hate it here, Nancy!"_  
_Her sister was stomping around in their room, kicking the walls and crying._  
_"Why are they so mean to us?"_  
_"Momma says it's better here than it was in Houston."_  
_"How is this BETTER? We can't even eat in restaurants like white folks!"_  
_Exhausted from screaming, Susan Lovat flopped down onto her frilly bed. Nancy could see her the tears rolling down her twin's soft cheeks._  
_"I wish I could just disappear."_  
Trembling, Wybie's grandmother drew away from her grandson.  
"Oh, Susan..." She whispered.  
"G-grandma?"  
No answer came. Nancy Lovat's bottom lip trembled as she slowly trudged down the stairs.  
The front door opened with a "creeaak," and she peeked out, staring in the direction of the Pink Palace. Her eyes narrowed.  
"I won't let you take him. Do you hear me, you monster? You may have taken my sister, and God may have taken my daughter, my son-in-law, and my poor husband..." Nancy choked back a sob.  
"But no one's taking my little Wyborn!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Friend  
"Now you're going to stay here...forever."  
She couldn't move. She couldn't even scream.  
All Coraline could do was watch in horror as the Other Mother threaded the sharp needle with plain black thread. The Beldam's own "eyes" flashed as she took something from a pocket in the apron that hung about her skeletal waist.  
The Beldam's twisted grin was the last thing Coraline saw before her vision was blocked by a pair of smooth, black buttons.  
Coraline jolted awake with a gasp. Her shaking hands immediately flew to her eyes. Finding only the soft skin of her eyelids, she sighed in relief.  
"Just a nightmare. The Other Mother is gone." She whispered to herself. But her hands trembled still. Even now, two years after the incident, the Beldam's syrupy voice still surfaced in her dreams.  
Coraline groaned, leaning over her bed to glance at the clock. The glowing red letters spelled out 5:34.  
Another groan escaped her thin, rosy lips. She'd never get back to sleep now.  
"Might as well head over to Wybie's." She thought.  
"He's usually up by now looking for slugs or fooling around with that bike."  
With a yawn and a stretch that would make a cat proud, Coraline grabbed her yellow slicker and snuck outside.  
The dirt roads were still muddy from the recent rains, but her clunky swampers kept her feet dry as she slogged her way to the Lovat home. With a loud "clang," Coraline pulled open the door to the garage. Since neither Wybie nor his grandmother could drive a car, the unused space had been transformed into Wybie's personal man-cave.  
Coraline glanced around the room, which was cluttered with tools and rusty machine parts. Her hazel eyes fell upon a slumped figure in the corner. She had to stifle a giggle; Wybie was draped over an oil-stained work table, sound asleep. As Coraline strolled closer, she noticed that his unruly curls were sticking up at every angle, and a small wrench was still clutched in his hand.  
She noticed something else as well: Wybie's black jacket was crumpled on the floor.  
For as long as she had know him, Wybie had always worn a thick, black coat with the silver stripes. Even when he had outgrown the old thing, Mrs. Lovat had just sewn a new one exactly like it. Wybie would wear the jacket no matter what the weather, prompting Coraline to tease him about his "suffering for the sake of fashion." Luckily for Wybie, their school had no objections to the coat, since it was the same color as the uniforms. She had never seen him without it.  
Until now.  
The brow of the blue-haired girl wrinkled as her light eyes skimmed over the sleeping form. For the first time, she could see how skinny Wybie actually was, though he had recently grown more broad in the shoulders.  
What really caught her attention was her friend's back; Coraline could see the outline of his protruding vertebrae through his thin, grey T-shirt. Instead of forming a smooth s-curve through center of Wybie's back, the spiny bones were lined up in a sharp forward turn, forcing the neck and head to buck out at a painful angle instead of facing up.  
Coraline couldn't tear her eyes from her disfigured friend. Without thinking, she brought her hand to the Wybie's back and gently traced the bizarre bone structure, wishing she could heal her friend's pain with her spidery touch alone. The sensation of Coraline's pale, delicate fingers moving up his spine drew a soft sigh from the still-sleeping boy.  
Suddenly, Wybie's differently-sized eyes flicked open, and he whipped around.  
"Coraline? W-wha...?"  
He suddenly noticed his lack of a jacket, and cringed.  
"Well?"  
Coraline raised an eyebrow.  
"Well what?"  
"G-go ahead and laugh. I'm used to it."  
"Wybie..."  
He chuckled bitterly.  
"Or are you going to start calling me names? Try 'freak,' or 'mutant,' or perhaps 'Quasimodo.'"  
"Wybie—"  
"It'll be a nice change from 'Why-Were-You-Born!'"  
"Wybie!"  
Coraline socked him in the arm.  
"Ow!"  
"What the hell? I'm not going to be a bitch!"  
Coraline was fuming, her cheeks flushed.  
"What kind of person do you think I am?"  
Wybie couldn't meet her eyes.  
"It-it's just that...everyone else who's ever seen this stupid mutation has called me a freak."  
Her boiling anger evaporated, and Coraline's gaze became gentler. She slung an arm around her companion's skinny shoulders, just brushing his misshapen back.  
"We're friends, Wybie. You can trust me. I won't hurt you."  
Wybie finally managed to look at her. A small smile—not to mention a slight blush—spread across his face.  
He coughed, and turned his grin into a smirk.  
"T-tell that to my arm!"  
Coraline giggled, whacking him again.  
"Hey, teasing you about your slug fetish is fair game, psycho-nerd!"  
"Ewwww!" Wybie cracked up, stuttering out "Y-you pervert!"  
The pair remained in the garage for hours, laughing away their fears and sorrows until the world awoke.

**A/N: scoliosis is the abnormal lateral curvature of the spine, which would account for the bend in Wybie's back. **


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A Feeling  
In the hushed, impeccably clean waiting room of the hospital sat two fidgety sixteen-year-olds.  
There came a call from the man at the front desk, startling the silence that had spread over the room like a layer of dust.  
"Wyborn Lovat?"  
"Y-yes?"  
"The surgeon will see you in few minutes."  
"Ok, t-thanks."  
Wybie slumped even further in his seat, deformed head in his large, calloused hands.  
Over the past several months, he'd been having nearly headaches, to the point where the pain was preventing him from sleeping. The pain pills his grandmother had bought never seemed to keep the monstrous agony at bay for long, and they had finally gone to a hospital.  
"Unilateral coronal synostosis...premature skull fusion during infancy...can cause severe pain during puberty if the head continues to grow incorrectly..."  
Coraline flipped flippantly through the pamphlet entailing what the surgeon would be doing to her best friend.  
"Symptoms: migraines, impaired vision...yadda yadda yadda...ooh, here's a picture of someone getting their skull cut open!"  
"Not helping, Jonesy."  
"Aw, lighten up! Hey, maybe the doctor can replace your brain while he's fooling around in there!"  
"Coraline! Cut it out!"  
The young woman blinked. Wybie's momentary annoyance faded, and he sighed.  
"I-I'm sorry. I guess I'm just nervous. I know it's stupid..."  
His eyes, which appeared to be different sizes thanks to the contortion of their sockets, closed as he heaved a whispery sigh.  
Coraline bit her thin lower lip. Fear was an emotion she understood better than most. Her encounter with the world behind the little door had been a nightmare come true, and it had recurred in her nightmares ever since. Despite the hazel-eyed heroine's strength and bravery, she had still felt the need to seek out comfort, which took the form of long, silly arguments and stupid jokes from Wybie.  
Perhaps now she could return the favor.  
"Hey, Wybie...look at me."  
The curly-haired teenager raised his head as she went on.  
"Everything's going to be fine. It's okay to be scared. I would be, too."  
Slowly, her pale fingers intertwined with his calloused ones.  
"But it's also okay to look for support. And that's what I'm here for."  
Wybie's face was a bright crimson, like the sky during a sunset. His mouth opened, but no words would come. Finally, he just shook his head and threw his arms around Coraline, shaking slightly. She immediately returned the hug, gently rubbing Wybie's back as he pressed his slightly damp cheek against hers.  
"Mr. Lovat, the doctor will see you now."  
Reluctantly, the two teenagers drew apart. Throwing her one last grateful glance, Wybie left the waiting room and Coraline.

**A/N: coronal synostosis is an abnormal change in the growth pattern of the skull, which would account for Wybie's askew facial features. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Anew  
An old pair of swampers sloshed through a clear puddle on a cloudy spring day, carrying a blue-haired young woman up a winding, rocky path into the woods. The flower-studded trees lazily dropped petals onto her head as she walked.  
"C-Coraline!"  
She turned her head, causing her long, electric blue hair to whip her neck. A smile stretched across her pale face.  
"Hey, Wybie!"  
Coraline halted her progress for a moment, allowing the other teen to catch up. Shoulders touching, the pair continued down the path together.  
"Out looking for Slugzilla junior?"  
"Nah! I-I've decided to devote my time to something more...constructive."  
The young woman smirked.  
"You're going to groom that mop on your head? I'm sure you could find some new species living on your scalp."  
Wybie gave an exaggerated huff.  
"I am on a m-mission to locate a creature worthy of the name..." He lowered his voice dramatically.  
"Newtsferatu!"  
Coraline socked him on the arm.  
After a few peaceful moments, the pair arrived in a small clearing, its center marked by a ring of toadstools.  
"The old well..."  
Coraline's hazel eyes darkened slightly as memories of that night rushed through her head: the cord suddenly tightening around her neck, being dragged toward the gaping mouth of the well, the pure terror on Wybie's features as he held onto the rim for dear life...  
"T-this is where we first met."  
She turned to her friend, her head tilted to the side. Instead of reflecting the fear she herself felt, Wybie's olive eyes had a dreamy gleam.  
Feeling something brush her fingers, Coraline looked down. Wybie's warm hand trembled slightly as he interlaced his fingers with hers. She savored the gentleness of his touch.  
"This doesn't have to be a place of fear..." Coraline realized, turning to face Wybie.  
"...I'll just have to replace those bitter memories with something sweeter." She finished her thought aloud.  
Wybie's eyebrows shot up, then lifted even higher as Coraline took his other hand. A dark blush exploded across his face.  
Screwing up his courage, the young man bent down toward Coraline. She smirked, and quickly closed the gap between their lips. His face heating up, Wybie returned the kiss.  
The clouds obscuring the early sunlight dispersed with their worries, and they stood, unafraid, in the golden beam.

**A/N: any other "Nosferatu" fans out there? Did you like Newtsferatu? I thought it was clever, myself...**


End file.
